Elevating Language Learning to New Heights Preposterous Prepositions: Practice with English William Moore [email protected]

Elevating Language Learning to New Heights

Preposterous Prepositions: Practice with English

William [email protected]

Preposterous Prepositions! Practice with English

A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition and its object, which

is nearly always a noun group.Collins Cobuild. English Grammar. 1992

The preposition is conventionally thought of as the first word

of a prepositional phrase.Gorrell & Laird. Modern English Handbook. 1958

as words that‘express a relationship of meaning between

two parts of a sentence.’David Crystal. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (1995)

50 Common Prepositions


about at during off to

above before for on towardacross behind from onto underafter below in opposite untilagainst beneath inside out of upalong beside into in front of throughalongside between like over with among beyond near past within around by next to per without

as down of since worth

Bluenose put in a full fishing season in the spring and

summer of 1921. This was a condition for entrance into the

International Fisherman's Race against the Americans -

which was the real reason for building the Bluenose. Captain

Angus Walters had been fishing ever since he was 13 years

old. He learned how to sail on his father's fishing schooner.

When he became captain of the Bluenose, people said he was

a difficult man to get along with, but he was very intelligent

and knew how to handle his ship. He could bring her through

any kind of water or poor weather conditions.


White, Joan. (1997). Listen to the Loon. Oxford. Toronto, Can.


Bluenose put in a full fishing season in the spring and summer

of 1921. This was a condition for entrance into the

International Fisherman's Race against the Americans - which

was the real reason for building the Bluenose. Captain Angus

Walters had been fishing ever since he was 13 years old. He

learned how to sail on his father's fishing schooner. When he

became captain of the Bluenose, people said he was a difficult

man to get along with, but he was very intelligent and knew

how to handle his ship. He could bring her through any kind

of water or poor weather conditions. 14 verbs











any kind of water or poor weather conditions. 12 preps


74 / 3438 = 2%Pages focused on prepositions


15 Location prepositions 6 other prepositions




“Advanced placement in Canadian High Schools

is determined almost exclusively by the student’s

ability to use prepositions correctly.”

At a TEAL Annual Conference in Vancouver, BC, in

1998 Lee Gunderson & Catherine Eddy working

with Immigration Canada, responsible for ESL

Testing & classroom placement of 20,000 student

per year announced that:

Is this because prepositions are difficult to use, or because we do not teach their use very well?

on

PrepositionWord

PrepositionFunction

PrepositionPhrase

PrepositionPhrase Type

L the ducks on the pond N - N

in at L T kids in the sandbox at recess N – N - N

three white v v clear

two small v v new


at L a family at the table N - N

under L a child under the structureplaygroundv

picnicv

N - N

at T lunch at noon N - N

a man with a guitar N - NAwith

Stage 1 & 2 – Adverb & Adverbial Placement

The 4 functions prepositions perform:

Location / Place Motion / Direction Time Abstract

on, off, over,

under, below,

beneath,

beside,

in, out,

between,

near…

into, out of,

from, to,

up among,

toward

through,

forward…

at, in, on,

by, to,

from, until,

since…

with, by,

for,

from,

of…


The 4 functions prepositions perform:

Location / Place Motion / Direction Time Association

on, off, over, under, below, beneath, beside,in, out, between, near…

into, out of, from, to, up among, toward through, forward…

at, in, on, by, to, from, until, since…

with, by, for, from, of…

The different preposition phrase types:

Noun – Noun ; Verb – Noun ; Verb noun – Noun ; Verb Noun – Noun ; Noun – Noun – Noun ; Verb – Verb

The Grammar that can be taught using preposition phrases • Prepositions - function, meaning, use · Adjectives – meaning, placement• Adverbs – meaning, placement · Verbs –transitive and intransitive structures• Direct objects – indirect objects · Simple sentence – formation · Appositives• Relative clauses – integration into simple sentences · dangling modifiers• Complex sentence formation · phrasal verbs · and loads of vocabulary



Preposterous Prepositions is a system of teaching-

learning English which uses the preposition as the

focus of study – rather than the verb tenses.

STAGE 1 – introduce the ‘preposition’ as a type of word – practice location (L)

prepositions

STAGE 2 – practice with abstract (A) and time (T) preposition phrases: develop table

STAGE 3 – introduces the motion (M)preposition phrases

STAGE 4 – study adverbs and adverbials; add to table

STAGE 5 – develop sentences from phrases; add appositives and relative clauses

STAGE 6 – study subordinate clauses and participle phrases











any kind of water or poor weather conditions. 12 preps

in

PrepositionWord

PrepositionFunction

PrepositionPhrase


L a season in the spring N - Nfull fishingv

v International Fisherman’s


of A summer of 1921 N - N

for A a condition for entranceplaygroundv

picnicv

N - N

against A the race against the Americans N - N


for

PrepositionWord

PrepositionFunction

PrepositionPhrase


A is fishing for trout V - N

comfortably Λ Λ


across M is riding across the valley V - N

into M are walking into the forest cautiously Λ Λ Λ

V - N

on L is sitting on his horse V - N

at L is catching a fish in his net Vn - N

Stage 3 – Motion (M) Preposition Phrases

mindfully.I bought some cheese from the deli.

first.

dutifully.I went home. yesterday.

carefully.I posted your letter in the mailbox.

after lunch.

sadly.Then, I returned home.

at 1:30.

How?Where?When?

How?Where?When?

How?Where?When?

How?Where?When?


What?

"How" adverbs go closest to the verb, usually after it, but sometimes before it.

And for “special effect,” they can go at the beginning or end of the

sentence.

Ali jumped quickly over the lion, yesterday.

Ali quickly jumped over the lion, yesterday.

#1 “How” position

#2 “How” position

Ali jumped over the lion quickly, yesterday. #3 “How” position

Quickly, Ali jumped over the lion, yesterday.

Ali jumped over the lion yesterday, quickly.

Ali jumped over the lion yesterday – quickly!


"When" adverbs go at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Yesterday, Ali jumped quickly over the lion. #1 “When” position

Ali jumped quickly over the lion, yesterday. #1 “When” position

"Where" adverbs always go after the Verb Group (V + DO)

Ali jumped quickly over the lion. Ali jumped over the lion quickly.

Skillfully, Ali kicked the ball into the net as the final whistle blew.

Skillfully, Ali into the net kicked the ball as the final whistle blew.

Skillfully, Ali kicked into the net the ball as the final whistle blew.

Skillfully, Ali kicked the ball as the final whistle blew into the net .

( V + DO )


is catching some fish for dinner ___

are eating lunch with each other ___

is riding his horse through the valley ___

are sizzling under the burgers ___

is holding a drink in her hand ___

is cooling in the man’s hand ___

are staying in tents at the campground ___

are singing songs from “Titanic” ___

Are the following examples Transitive (Vn), Intransitive (V) or Ergative (VN) structures?


T (Vn - N)

E (VN - N)

E (VN - N)

I (V - N)

T (Vn - N)

I (V - N)

E (VN – N - N)

T (Vn - N)

N – N V* - N

the horseman beyond the river is riding through the valley

the hamburgers on the grill are sizzling over the coals

the people around the campfire are talking about their climb

the table under the trees is sitting in the shade

the cup of juice feels cold in her hand

the hikers across the river are walking up the hill

the man in the river is catching a trout for lunch

Stage 5 – Combining Preposition Phrase types to form Simple SentencesPreposterous Prepositions! Practice with English

Mrs. Black, the lady by the pond, is feeding the ducks.

Mr. Jones, the horseman who is beyond the river, is riding through the valley

today.

These new hamburgers, the ones on the grill, taste much better than the ones we

used to buy.

Jack, John and Marty are the people around the campfire who are talking about

their climb.

My son has a bike made by Raleigh, a company in Canada that went into

bankruptcy recently.

The climbing structure in the playground, the half-dome of metal bars, is old and

rusty.

Stage 5 - Adding Appositives, Relative Clauses & Subordinate clauses


on

PrepositionWord

PrepositionFunction

PrepositionPhrase


L the ducks on the pond N - N

in at L T kids in the sandbox at recess N – N - N

toward M are swimming toward the lady V - N

on ML is pushing his daughter on the swing Vn - N

three white v v clear

two small v v new

old v

dark haired v

are eating the food from her hand from A VN - Ndelicious v


swiftly ʌ ʌ ʌ

eagerly ʌʌʌ

ʌ happily ʌ ʌ

to

PrepositionWord

PrepositionFunction

PrepositionPhrase


M is flying to Paris V - N

right v


to inf likes to eat

up phV walked up to the clerk phV - N

for A the reason for building N - Vpart

by A is earning money by working Vn - V

Stage 5 – Rare Phrases & Lookalikes


Preposition vs Phrasal Verb Particle

Please, turn on the light.

Phrasal verb particle

Please, crawl down there and turn on the light.

Preposition

Smoke in the hallway/ aisle exit

exit

no exit

From: Graham, C. (1982) The Electric Elephant. Oxford U. Press


A gorilla went shopping in Macy’s one day. He was in the umbrella

department, on the first floor, opening and closing the umbrellas and

throwing them on the floor. He seemed to be getting very angry.

A customer was watching all this and finally ran up to a clerk

and said, “Excuse me, but there’s an angry gorilla over there playing

with the umbrellas.”

“I’m sorry,” said the clerk, “but that’s not my department. Try the

third floor.” So the customer ran to the third floor, found the manager,

told him the story, and they both rushed back to the gorilla. The

manager was trembling, but he tried to smile and walked right up to

the big beast, saying, “Pardon me, Sir or Madam, but, well, you know

we’ve never seen a gorilla in Macy’s before.”

“I’m not surprised,” said the gorilla, “and with these prices

you’re not going to see many more either.”

A Day at the Beach

Three children from Nanaimo are

playing at the beach today. Fred, the boy

in the green hat, is building a castle out of

sand – a sandcastle. Joe is playing in the

waves. Right now he is running away from

a wave. Jenny is watching a crab crawl up

the beach. The children come to the

beach every summer. They play by the

water every day. Their mom even brings

lunch to them so they don’t have to stop

playing. Now that’s the life for me!


Jenny is watching a crab crawl up the beach.

Jenny is watching as a crab crawls up the beach.Jenny is watching a crab as it crawls up the beach.


A Simple English Lesson

proposes that

the preposition be taught as

‘the middle or linking word in a

preposition phrase, connecting

nouns and verbs in relationships of

Location, Motion, Time and other

Abstract Associations’


And further, that lessons based on

Preposterous Prepositions become

integrated into the current

curricula for English as a first,

second (or any other number)

language.

(2% is not enough!)

The End

Preposterous Prepositions: Practice with English

William [email protected]

Documents

Elevating Language Learning to New Heights Preposterous Prepositions: Practice with English William Moore [email protected]